Finders Keepers
by Laryna6
Summary: AT1 AU. The Barsett heir and the next Star Singer escaped from Platina and vanished into the depths of the tower. On a completely unrelated note, the President of Tenba brought some interesting loot back from her most recent dungeon dive.
1. Grade 5 Item Drops

_This is a giftfic for mysterousguy898, who requested_ Ar Tonelico _or Definition of an Android._

 _Despite using some expanded universe info, this For Want of a Nail AU is set in_ Ar Tonelico 1 _game canon, and reserves the right to ignore later info and retcons. Normally I'm quite obsessive about researching my fandoms, so I totally understand if you come across some detail that makes you go 'wait that's wrong' and it puts you off the fic, but I can't look into the expanded universe material without finding some new thing that makes me want to punch the developers every damn time._

 _However, if you're one of the people who replays AT1 for the heartwarming every so often and wishes you could recc this series to people without them going Eww, I hope this manages to capture the reason you love this game._ _  
_

 _Well. Half the reason._

 _You have to love the music._

* * *

"Spica!" she heard her mother yell from downstairs.

Looking down at the lock she was working on, she pursed her lips, but knew she shouldn't try to call back. It would be hard for her mother to hear her over all the clanging equipment. Also the earplugs. Everyone on Firefly Alley had to wear them while the construction was going on, or else they'd lose their hearing and then where would they be when some monster ambushed them on an expedition to the depths of the tower.

Spica had learned from her mother and her companions that the most important rule of expeditions to the tower was Finders Keepers. Being able to get through locks and blow open doors meant that she could find more things, when she was older and they let her go places where there were things to steal. Salvage.

Tenba Corporation's labs and Grathmeld Development Council had been on Firefly Alley for ages, but her mother's expeditions into the tower and inventions made a lot more people want to move there to study the materials and work on new discoveries. When Spica was born the island held ten thousand people on market days, but they were expanding to have places for a hundred thousand people to live, and maybe even more!

"Remember how you asked me for a little sister!"

 _That_ made Spica jump to her feet and run over to the stairs, clanging her way down.

Her mother smiled when Spica made it to the arbitrarily-designated 'ground' floor of the Elduke House, or the Presidential Mansion or whatever it ended up being called. "Brought home one of each," she said, indicating a black-haired girl in what must have been an elaborate dress before it was torn and a boy in training armor that look like it had been expensive before it got scorched and scratched. "Found them in the tower, so if you like them they're yours."

Spica frowned at them, folding her arms, then smiled. "Do you want to learn how to pick locks?"

The girl's eyes brightened. " _Would_ I!"

* * *

"I take it your attempt to infiltrate Tenba and take over one of their town defense groups failed?" Bishop Falss asked Bourd. "After all your training," and the expensive grathmelded armor and crystals, "I would think you'd be strong enough to win the duels to qualify."

"That white-haired girl knew my last name." Meaning she knew he was from the church? "I was winning until they put me up against this tiny blond kid."

"…the President's son," Falss realized. "The Grathmelding prodigy." The boy with the same name as Leard's father… but that had to be a coincidence. Falss had survived his fall only with the help of the agent Mir had loosed into the world. No matter _how_ deeply Ayano Elduke ranged into the sealed, secret areas of the tower, it wasn't possible to reach Platina on foot!

"Whatever he built into his armor, I couldn't scratch him. The first time he got a hit in, I hit the wall." Bourd snarled. "If I ever catch him out of armor…"

"Tenba's scavengers," 'tower explorers, "and grathmelders are very loyal. If they recognize you as someone with a reason to hold a grudge against the President's family, if those wild reyvateils don't murder you the human workers will find some way to recycle your body." Just tossing biomass off the edge of the tower was unthinkably wasteful.

He remembered how once upon a time, he'd just wanted to restore lost technology, restore the glory days. Once upon, he'd had _dreams_ , and if the young Kyle Clancy had found Firefly Alley… but then he'd been cast out, made his bargain with Mir, and now all that mattered was _revenge_.

* * *

"I'm working on a device that will let humans use song magic!" And a flamethrower, and she liked going fast, but the President had heard about Krusche's idea with Parameno crystals and said that since she had some people who knew how hymmnos worked, if it was combined with a version of hymmnos that people could used without it being programmed into their cosmospheres?

Krusche had her own place now, and free run of Firefly Alley, and all the materials she could use! This was her dream, so she'd do her best to grant the President's dream! Some of the other young engineers Tenba was gathering were really cute, too.

Like the one who'd just been flown in from Nemo. "My dream is to someday build an airship that can get past the blastline and explore the top of the tower," Luke said excitedly. "See if the Goddess and the legendary apostles of Elemia really exist."

The President's son Regulus clasped his hands together. "If you get up there, you have to promise me something."

"Sure, what?" Luke wondered, expecting the president's son to want to come with. He could use a fighter, with that dragon up there.

" _Bring me back funbuns_."

* * *

Once the port had appeared on her body, it should have been all over. Without diquility she would die, and that meant the Church or Tenba.

Reyvateils were dangerous, and their songs were weapons, and someone had to be responsible for keeping Claire under control.

She didn't want to be under control. She wanted to sing, for Songs to be something other than weapons.

The Church… the church would not have been happy with that, for her to reject her goddess-given role. When she was younger, Tenba had only hired reyvateils for the town defense forces and tower explorers. She'd planned to join and tried for an exploration team, so at least she wouldn't have to use her songs on people, and although she wouldn't have been _paid_ , at least her room, board and diquility would have been provided, and Tenba didn't care about what reyvateils did in their free time. She could have kept studying grathmelding, busked in Firefly Alley and hoped to be noticed.

Then one of the reyvateils she was rooming with saw what Claire was doing with the materials she was allowed to keep for herself from the tower trips.

Tenba was hiring reyvateils as _grathmelders_? She would still get diquility, she could still keep her Tenba affiliation so people would know she wasn't a rogue, dying and desperate to get diquility no matter the cost, cursing the humans around them because _the humans got to live_?

She was a Class-B reyvateil, there was no _way_ they'd let her leave combat duty… but they had.

Pochoma and the rest of the department made her pass a proficiency test, but she was _making_ instruments.

Then the President's son passed her a flyer. Because he thought she should… Try out. For his sister's band. Denebola, no, _Deena,_ friends of her brother were supposed to call her Deena was going to be _touring the tower_ , and just, just _singing_.

"Deep breaths, Claire, deep breaths," Aurica coached her as the musicians around them tuned up and got ready to go onstage.

"Yes," she said, looking down at her lute. The change in altitude coming to Firefly Alley had thrown off the tuning on most of the competitors' instruments. Touring all over the tower, that would be important, wouldn't it?

The lute Claire had grathmelded didn't need to be tuned.

Yes, maybe, _yes_. She could _do this_.

* * *

Ayano lowered her sword and sighed. " _One_ of these days, I'll build a robot that doesn't go berserk. Thanks, kids." For showing up when she let them know that she was booting it up today. _One_ of these days, this would end in Tenba unveiling its first robot for exploring hazardous areas of the tower remotely instead of her kids helping her take it apart.

"You owe me those Dokkoi Sets," 'Denebola' reminded her.

She sighed, sheathing her sword at her hip when the last of the robots' parts stopped twitching. "Sharper than a serpent's tooth is an ungrateful stepchild. Come on, let's go hit the bar. Coming, dears?"

"Of _course_ , Mother," Spica replied serenely.

"I could have _sworn_ we fixed the problem this time," 'Regulus' said, crouching over the remains of the robot and trading his sword for his toolkit.

"I'll have them deliver some pastries," Ayano told him. He nodded absently. Lyner had his sweet tooth, even though according to him nothing the bakers made or he grathmelded equaled the taste of the funbuns of his childhood.

She doubted that anything _could_ be that good, even the funbuns themselves. Not when they'd come to symbolize the home, family, _country_ he'd lost, by stealing Lady Shurelia's armor for Misha and finding a lift to take them into the mysterious depths of the tower.

If she asked him, she knew that he'd say he didn't regret a thing and it would be the truth, but every so often something would remind him of Platina and he'd vanish into the grathmelding labs only to emerge carrying platters of pastries and handing them out to anyone who would eat them so his latest failure to recapture the past didn't waste food.

It was one of Firefly Alley's unofficial holidays, along with whenever 'Denabola' held a concert and her proud mother would understand _perfectly_ if anyone liked 'Deena's' singing so much they just had to miss work to come listen.

* * *

"So. They tell me that you're an Apostle of Elemia," Ayano said, sitting at her desk with a hand just casually on the hilt of her sword.

"Yes," he said, smiling. "My name is Ayatane Mishitaka: I'm honored to meet you, President Elduke. I've been sent to the Lower World to find something, and I'm told that Tenba Corporation can get its hands on anything."

"We do have that reputation, yes. But just what is it you want?" she asked, learning forward and noticing his complete lack of reaction to what her corset didn't cover. Drat.

"A song crystal containing Exec_Purger," Ayatane said.

It was hard for him not to notice how the air of menace instantly vanished. "Really, is that all?" From that smile, it had better be.

"I don't plan on taking anything else back with me, no. Our city is under attack: this isn't the time to shop for souvenirs." Especially not the Star Singer. Lady Shurelia sending _him_ to find the crystal that was her only hope of fighting Mother's other viruses was a stroke of luck he had no intention of ruining by letting her find the Star Singer.

So _this_ was how she'd remained hidden all these years: Firefly Alley was in range of the tower, so she wouldn't drop dead, but it was an independent structure, outside of the limited amount Shurelia could sense from the Tower's systems. Yes, Misha had visited the Wing of Horus several times, but she'd moved around so much Shurelia couldn't localize where her songs were coming from.

The Barsett heir's attack of conscience was all so very convenient, Ayatane might almost have to thank him if they ever met. Not that he would reveal himself to a human.

* * *

Ayatane, Harmonica – 'Jack,' since the Teru searching the Wings of Horus for the Star Singer were supposed to be incognito – and Aurica arrived at the crashed airship to find a blond in a white coat lined with tool pouches.

"So, you're the engineer Tenba sent?" Jack asked, swaggering up.

The blonde looked up and smiled, looking over the three of them. "Yes, I'm Regulus Elduke, and you must be…" A familiar expression appeared in blue eyes when he looked at Ayatane.

He must be very attractive, apparently. It came from being programmed to look like a character in his mother's novel.

"Um," Regulus said intelligently, staring at Ayatane a moment longer before he blinked and pulled himself together. "The Apostle! And you're Claire's childhood friend, and Spica said you're a Ter-, um, that you're definitely not a Teru spy," he babbled, and winced. "…can I start over?"

"Everyone's heard that Tenba's Vice President of Marketing has a good intel network," Jack said, with a tilt of his hat. "Pity we can't tell her why we need to track down a reyvateil."

"No, we're not handing over reyvateils to anyone. I mean, it's against company policy. Reyvateils are very important to the future of the tower, can't get anything done without them," Regulus said, something about his intonation suggesting that he was quoting his mother as he went back to staring at Ayatane. "Sorry for staring, I've never seen anyone like you before. Do… all apostles look like you?" he managed.

"No," Ayatane said, smiling. "I would think you'd remember, Young Master Lyner Barsett."

"Regulus Elduke!" Lyner corrected him, and the blushing might even be as much as half because he was lying.

He didn't even seem to register that Jack's gun was pointed at his head. "Lyner Barsett? As in, the traitor who kidnapped the star singer?"

That got Lyner's attention. "My father was locking her in… she wanted, she needed to get out of there! Not that I have any idea," he glanced to the side. "What you're talking about… I knew this was a terrible idea," he said, wincing. "Spica knows I can't lie. She knows I can't lie, so why did she talk me into this?" he looked up to ask the goddesses. "Should have sent Krusche." He reached into his coat absently: Jack watched with hard eyes, but it wasn't his sword hand. Just a screwdriver he started to fiddle with. "Couldn't send Luke, it got past the blastline with a live passenger, he'd take it to thoroughly catalogued pieces. Of course I couldn't impersonate an airship engineer, I mean what do I know about them, compared to Krusche, and Luke, and the actual _Airship Division-"_

Another twitch of his hand, and the screwdriver flew out, knocking the barrel of Jack's gun up so Lyner could duck and come in underneath. Ayatane could see Lyner move, but he doubted either Jack or Aurica had managed to track the movement that ended up with Jack on the ground and Lyner's sword at his throat. That wasn't human speed: grathnode crystals. While the war raged, Shurelia programmed kinds of crystals that would make humans obscenely powerful. Tenba didn't quite _control_ grathmelding technology in the lower world, but close. Dropping the Wing of Horus would take out the regional town defense posts, but the bases for tower exploration weren't on the wing, and Firefly Alley had its own engine for generating lift. He would probably need to take that out, before or after the Plasma Bell.

"I'm on the diquility project. I know why reyvateils die young. I know why _Misha_ would have died young, when she could have, when she can live _longer_ than me! If you kidnap her, I don't care _what_ you have in _your_ armory: if Misha starts singing, Tenba will _end it_. And _that,"_ he said, looking up at Ayatane, "Is why my last name is _Elduke_. I won't have any part of a legacy that sacrifices reyvateils. _Anyone_ , but _especially_ reyvateils, so everyone else can live in peace and not even _know!_ " He glared. "I thought, I thought we were supposed to _protect_ people! To make everyone's lives better! That's the family I thought I was a part of. That's the family I _am_ a part of."

* * *

 _Spica being Ayano's daughter is one of the few supplemental material bits I'm adopting_ hard _because it's actually awesome. Ditto that device Krusche made, which is the reason there's a hymn sung by Spica._

 _Spica is one of the stars in the Southern Triangle. The other two are Arcturus and either Regulus or Denebola. At first I was thinking Arcturus and Denebola, but doing Regulus and Denebola would make the two of them a set._

 _Also Regulus would be a_ Tears to Tiara _reference._


	2. Talk Topics

_Talk Topics_.

 _Although they're only Talk Topics if Ayatane is the MC. If Lyner is, they're grathmelding conversations._

* * *

"What's this about accusations that Tenba pays reyvateils somewhat _more_ than human personnel?" Ayatane asked, sitting beside Lyner as he worked on the Circula Teleporter in the inn room.

"The leaf comes out of the benefits package: they can get it instead of the retirement plan," Lyner explained. "Since reyvateils don't retire, or become injured too badly to work." Not without dropping dead: diquility couldn't help a body that was no longer young and strong. "Some of them keep the account instead of taking the leaf, and have it work as life insurance instead. To help with the funeral, or for their spouse and children."

"But most of them do take the extra pay?"

"A lot of reyvateils come to Tenba because they _want_ to be able to survive without someone else and their income," Lyner said, looking down at the teleporter but frowning more at his thoughts than the device. "There's pressure on married reyvateils to have kids. That's why the church lets reyvateils leave and still gives them diquility if they marry their assigned partners. They have to swear to have kids in the marriage ceremony. A lot of reyvateils _don't_ want to have kids when half those kids," the reyvateil half, since the male children of reyvateils were human, "won't live into middle age. A lot of them are really angry over having to choose between _dying_ or condemning their kids to death." He shook his head. "If reyvateils were really such a big threat, people wouldn't get up in arms over their 'supply' of reyvateils being threatened. It's not about keeping people safe, it's about controlling reyvateils. _Keeping_ control over reyvateils, and they won't have that if there aren't any reyvateils to control… We were hoping that giving reyvateils more options would force the Church to clean up its act in order to get enough reyvateils to join up, but some of the regions are making things _worse_ and counting on the villages to force reyvateils into local Church service, so they don't have to pay for reyvateil healing. Well, except in _tithes_."

"Which _is_ a form of payment, so does the Church really have a right to make such an issue of Tenba only fighting for pay?" Ayatane wondered.

"Mom had to pull a lot of the tower exploration teams out to assign them to the regional defense posts, and start a few _new_ regional defense posts a few years after Bishop Falss took over. We can't afford to maintain entire bases if towns won't contribute, and we can't afford to keep troops stationed in regions there's nothing to gather so the base can be self-supporting if the locals are insulting and jack up the prices they charge outsiders, but the Church will let towns get slaughtered if they don't pay an adequate tithe too. They just 'scale back,' unless there's nothing but a single priest and a single reyvateil, and then _they_ get slaughtered when the town's attacked by bandits and become martyrs, when Falss knew darn well he was hanging them out to dry, putting them without backup in dangerous regions…"

How interesting. 'Regulus' was normally all smiles, but scratch the surface and you found _anger_. Anger at the mistreatment of reyvateils, of how the helpless were manipulated to their deaths.

Like Mother, really, although the thought of how Mother would react to being told she was like a human forced a laugh out of Ayatane. A human wouldn't appreciate being compared to the Mother of Viruses either, now would they?

Lyner looked up at him. The hardness in his eyes was gone now, replaced by that blush. "Sorry. I just… I couldn't close my eyes to how reyvateils were treated, not after finding out about Misha and her ancestresses."

"No, I think it's quite laudable, dear Lyner. Do you mind if I call you that?"

"Regulus, please? I'm not going back to Platina," he said. "I can't," he added, and Ayatane wondered at the note of apology. What was he apologizing for?

That if Ayatane returned to his 'home,' Lyner couldn't join him? That they couldn't be together unless Ayatane abandoned his duties, and Lyner thought better of him than that?

Ayatane knew that he'd been spending time with Lyner in the evenings at the inn on purpose, so it wasn't really _that_ irrational for the human to think there was some chance Ayatane returned his feelings.

* * *

The next time they stayed in an inn, he found Lyner working on a pair of swords. "Those aren't your usual style," he mentioned, and then realized. "Not that I was implying…"

"Well, if you were implying something, you'd be right." Lyner smiled up at his visitor. "They are for you. I mean, if that's okay. I know some people are attached to their weapons, Krusche does all her own upgrades so she can test them out and doesn't want me tinkering with her chainsaw." He lowered his eyes to his work again. "We're going further up the tower, and I'm surprised. Unless I'm missing something, you haven't got very good grathnode crystals. These will have better slots."

"I'm afraid your assessment of my equipment is probably correct," when Lyner had a trained eye for such things. "I'm just an ordinary knight; we're not outfitted as luxuriously as the heir to the Grathnode Development Council."

Lyner blushed, but realized that Ayatane was teasing him after a moment. "The Church a has lot of really powerful grathnode crystals that were donated to them over the years, sometimes in lieu of tithes, so they'd be spread out to the town defense forces. But the soldiers and reyvateils on the front lines never see the good stuff. I… I guess I hoped Platina would be better than that. Even after finding out about Misha."

"I can't blame you for wanting to think well of Lady Shurelia," Ayatane said, because it was important to stay in character.

Not because Lyner looked a little relieved. "The Teru spies don't have anything good either. It's dangerous for them, but I kind of get it because Spica said it was important to them to blend in, and drifters wouldn't have the chance to get their hands on the kind of ancient technology the Teru must have. And of course they're worried about humans getting their hands on technology equal to the Teru's. Can't blame them when I've been to Skuwat – they started selling us only low-quality metal because the Church was up to its old tricks. It was the In Kind scam."

"In Kind?"

"Taking goods instead of Leaf. In theory, it's a nice thing for the outlying villages that have to haul their stuff all the way to market. Makes that the Church's problem instead. _But_ you're supposed to donate the first and best fruits of your labor to the Goddesses. The Church was taking all the best metal from the mines, and counting it towards the tithe as base-quality Skywat Metal. That ended up draining off closer to twenty percent of the value of the town's production instead of the ten percent the tithe's supposed to be, and that meant they had less to pay our protection fees with and blamed us." Lyner shook his head. "In the old days, Tenba could count the defense forces that didn't break even as part of our Tithe. The Church would pick up the tab for defending outlying villages, and everyone was happy. Bishop Falss is building up the Church's military, but he's _not_ sending them to permanent outposts. The Church has _closed down_ some of its bases: they only have thirteen now."

"That means Church forces can't be taken for granted. The outer villages have to be aware of how defenseless they are, so they must _want_ the Church to have more troops?"

Lyner nodded. "They're also using 'in kind' to get their hands on grathnode crystals and equipment materials, and they're _not_ handing them out to the field troops. When a village gets attacked without warning because no one's scouting the area and Tenba troops arrive to save them and clear out the bandits, they get yelled at for not being there sooner. The Church gets treated as saviors who are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts instead of because they're being paid to do it. They're creating artificial scarcity, partially by undermining the reputation of their main competitor, but troops are like medicine: when there isn't enough, _people die_. They're blaming _us_ for 'stealing all the reyvateils,' and when those grateful villages ask what they can do to repay the heroic church knights, we've heard that some commanders are asking for the daughters of reyvateils, kids _whose ports haven't appeared yet_."

Children. To indoctrinate.

"Falss is doing all this?" Ayatane asked with dawning horror before he realized. Yes, Bishop Falss was Mother's ally. Gathering young reyvateils meant they could be brought to the main body of the tower and wouldn't die when the Wing of Horus dropped. This would save their lives, and even if they were in human hands now, they were in human hands before and it wouldn't be long now.

* * *

"I noticed you moved rather quickly when Jack tried to threaten you."

"I knew it wasn't going to work, so I thought I should be ready to get out of there when I blew my cover." That called for speed enhancement grathnode crystals. "Normally while I'm working I have a defense setup, just in case. Unless I'm working on robots for Mom, then I try to have more balanced attack and defense so that when it goes berserk we can destroy it before anything important gets damaged. I mean if. If it goes berserk."

"You're working on robots?"

Ayatane _wanted_ to tell him that the programming of those robots was being overwritten by what his mother did to drive the tower guardians berserk and keep Shurelia from regaining control, but Lyner would have wondered how he knew that. He could say that it was something the knights learned while they were learning about the tower and the passcodes, but Lyner was talking about how robots that _weren't people_ could benefit the world by reducing the reliance on reyvateils and human labor in dangerous areas and Ayatane didn't really want to burst his bubble when it would be moot shortly regardless. Once Mir took the tower, she would get the tower guardians back under control so they didn't attack reyvateils.

So they _would_ attack the surviving humans who lived in terraces on the sides of the tower. The humans of Platina would be killed by other humans, if they survived the viruses, but Firefly Alley…

Well, in _theory_ … It wasn't as though Metafalss was that far away, and they were trying to create technology that would let them build new land, yes? Mother had told him about Metafalica. Firefly Alley _was_ new land, so one would think they'd receive a warm welcome.

* * *

Reyvateils didn't have laugh wrinkles. At least not for long. Human women might check their faces in the mirror for cosmetic reasons, but reyvateils looked themselves over in the mirror, pulled their hair away to look at the hairs near their ears with bated breath, wondering how long they had left to live.

There were stretch marks on President Ayano's stomach – she'd had a child of her own, so why had she kept Leard's son? The marks of decades of smiles and laughter on her face. Cellulite on her large, muscled thighs, when reyvateils were engineered to be a false perfection and couldn't afford to tax their bodies with exercise.

She was, was _flaunting_ her human body, her very _adult_ human body, and Shurelia _hated_ her the moment she saw her.

No, she told herself. This woman had listened to Lyner's message and brought an army up the outside of the tower pursuing the church forces. Even if it was motivated by self-interest, Tenba had saved the lives of many of the people of Platina. Therefore, Shurelia was going to thank her politely and offer her and her forces Platina's hospitality.

She couldn't… it _was_ possible to force the Star Singer to sing. Threatening a loved one would make any reyvateil sing. But she was not going to stoop to that. She was going to _thank_ the person who stumbled across Lyner and Misha when they ran into the tower and started fiddling with ancient technology and _could have gotten themselves killed_. The tower guardians weren't going to recognize Shurelia's armor and leave her alone, not when Mir hacked them.

It might even be Mir's doing, that the Star Singer had ended up vanishing into the lower realm, still alive so Shurelia couldn't risk shortening her mother's lifespan by asking her to bear a second daughter.

If Misha had seen the world, then surely she'd understand why she had to sing to protect it. Shurelia was centuries old, she needed to be as mature as… was that an eyepatch? No, she needed to be _more_ mature than that woman looked.

…what was Leard doing.

"He's _my_ son and heir!"

"He's _my_ son," that woman said, without any qualifiers. More annoyed by how ridiculous this was than angry, an eyebrow raised as she tapped the hilt of her sword.

"You can't take a man's son!"

"Watch me," said the tower raider. "Any parent who lets their kids end up wandering around in the tower is _asking_ to lose those children. You should be glad someone found them."

Misha stood there with her arms folded and the same "what are you stupid?" expression as her mothers and grandmothers before her. The other silver-haired woman – Ayano's daughter? Had a seemingly-pleasant but thoroughly mocking smile on her face.

Lyner hadn't said anything since Leard started talking over Lyner's refusal to stay in Platina and Ayano jumped in to tell Leard to respect Lyner's wishes instead of dismissing an adult as a child when he wasn't Leard's child anymore.

Yes, this was _exactly_ how she hadn't wanted Leard and Lyner's reunion to go. Any moment now it was going to degenerate into 'you and what army,' and Ayano could win any contest of 'mine's bigger.' The knights couldn't afford to try to take Lyner and Misha by force, especially when they'd given custody of the Church prisoners to Tenba so Platina didn't have to feed and house them when they had their own people to worry about. Who knew what Kyle Clancy had told those people, but if Tenba attacked Platina, Shurelia had no doubt the Church forces would be released to join in.

From what she gathered, the only reason Exec_Purger hadn't been thrown over the side of the tower was that Spica had played on Lyner's desire to research song magic to help people to get Lyner to walk off with it just long enough to make a copy.

A weaker reyvateil's extraction of Purger might be able to disrupt Mir's control over the tower guardians, which was much of why Tenba had been able to make it up here not long after the Church forces arrived, but it didn't restore Shurelia's, and if Tenba had the ability to build robotic troops – even without the grathmelding Shurelia controlled – and she didn't?

She heard Lyner groan, and looked away from Ayano and Leard to see Lyner and… ah yes, Spica, turn to look at Misha between them. "See?" Lyner said. "They're not going to listen if you say you'll only do it for so long."

"You can get me out, right?" Misha said, although she was still looking at Leard and didn't seem all that certain of something.

"We might have to go through the Teru to do it," Spica said as calmly as though she was discussing some business transaction. "You saw how fanatic Flute was." Looking past Misha to Ly- Her stepbrother, she added, "I'm amazed you managed to convince him to let us leave healers there, even if he would only accept reyvateils."

"Not all of the Teru are like that," Lyner reminded her, "but Em Pheyna is their home, and if humans are attacking it? It's part of our mandate to explore the tower, and it's their sacred duty to keep humans from climbing it. We don't have to be enemies, but of course they know that we don't want the same things they do. Except for stopping Bourd and Mir from killing more people." That everyone was agreed on, for now. "After the church smashed through them like that, of course they didn't want to see _another_ human army."

'Our' mandate? Tenba's, when it was the job of the Teru and the humans, represented by Platina, to keep humans away from the Symphonic Reactor and key areas of the tower's systems, to prevent another disaster like the Grathnode Inferia?

"They wouldn't like being told they can't keep you. We'd have to threaten them on your behalf," Spica told the Star Singer. "No one likes being threatened."

"Keep her?" Shurelia asked.

Lyner looked at her. "Misha wants to sing Chronicle Key while the rest of us deal with Mir," he said as though this was just _completely_ unreasonable and self-sacrificing and he expected Shurelia or any right-thinking person to back him up on this _._ "We can fight the viruses now, the Church won't give her an army anymore: we need to finish this once and for all."

"You can't," Shurelia said firmly.

"Well, we can't abandon Misha or end up at war with the Teru either." Lyner seemed to think it would be a slaughter, and that was true.

The only question was who would be slaughtered. If the Teru decided that the lower world's humanity breaking the Compact was reason for _them_ to break the Compact and break out their armory…

"What else can Mir do?" Spica asked her.

"Drop the second Wing of Horus." Killing everyone who lived on it and destroying most of the tower's arable land, even if the humans and Shurelia both had made an effort to build terraces on the sides of the main tower where crops could be grown. That was part of the reason humans kept trying to make the Teru let them climb higher up: so they could claim more safe land.

That got their attention, at least _._ "How?" Lyner asked.

…did they really expect her to tell them about the Plasma Bell? True, Platina didn't have the resources to protect it, but that was why they needed to surrender the Star Singer.

It wasn't as though Shurelia _liked_ what they had to do to those poor girls. It wasn't like Lyner was the first Barsett to be horrified before they understood the necessity of it.

When so many reyvateils lived such brief lives, for one of them who _could_ live to be stripped of that time… the Star Singers lived as long as the average reyvateil. If anything, many of them felt that since they had been blessed with more time, longer lives, they should use that for the benefit of the world. A third-generation couldn't sing Chronicle Key, they'd be dead within three months.

Leard and Ayano were in each other's faces, Leard yelling and Ayano practically purring at him, since she knew very well that she had the upper hand. Lyner had been a responsible boy, even if he might have been unbelievably irresponsible in how he fulfilled the responsibility to protect others he'd taken upon himself. Endangering the entire tower and Misha as well, by taking her into areas Shurelia couldn't see or control… still, he'd been a child, Shurelia knew better than to expect humans to have much sense at that age. Not that Leard was showing a great deal of sense now.

Trying to extort concessions out of someone who just saved their city? Ignoring diplomacy, strategy, his son's wishes and his responsibility to Platina because he needed to have his way in something after these last several years?

From the expressions of the other Tenba troops and officials present, they weren't impressed any more than Lyner was. She could just see them thinking that _these_ were the legendary apostles? They were very professional, she'd give them that: they'd handled the transfer of the church troops and found placed to put them temporarily very quickly… Which meant they'd scouted the outskirts of Platina and found defensible positions.

Even if the Compact was necessary to get everyone's cooperation to end the war and contain Mir, the humans who'd seen the other Wing of Horus fall were not especially happy that everyone above Em Pheyna would have to move down except for the Apostles, when there _already_ wasn't enough land on the sides of the tower to support the evacuees without most of them moving back to the surviving Wing of Horus.

It might… if Tenba wouldn't hand over the Star Singer, then perhaps they'd be more reasonable and be willing abide by the Compact and withdraw their troops from Platina once they saw Mir's next move.

She just hoped it wouldn't take the destruction of the Plasma Bell for them to see that they couldn't stop her.

* * *

 _Given that beauty standards obviously tend to be biased against groups labeled subhuman (no one wants to look like inferiors), and cultures will often completely reverse what's considered pretty to favor something exclusively available to the upper classes (see tanning), the eternally youthful appearance of reyvateils could be considered fake/plastic/ugly and realistic human appearances would be considered preferable. For one thing, it sucks to fall in love with someone who will live about half as long as you - easy healing would raise human lifespans but reyvateils are still lucky to reach 40. It may be AT2 where you can encounter some NPCs trying to keep their son from getting into a relationship into a reyvateil because there is literally no way this ends well, and yeah, they're right, especially on Metafalss with the IPD virus. Heartbreak at best, their child and grandchildren in body bags at a very likely worst._

 _Given Leard's age, Lyner's mother would have hit her expiration date within a few years after Lyner was born._

 _Which just would have made Misha's fate even more ridiculous to Lyner. Misha and her mother could live_ two hundred years? _Their children wouldn't have to watch them die when they were still kids, the way almost everyone in Platina would have lost their mother before they hit twenty?_

 _If you think about the demographics in terms of lifespan producing gender disparity constantly producing youth bulges, (despite Mir's viruses performing male gendercide as a consequence of preferentially targeting humans, which would reduce the pressure) Lyner would have ended up his generation's Kyle Clancy if external factors hadn't forced social reform._

 _Shurelia has issues, and the game goes into quite a few of them. Her worldview has also been shaped by her experiences, like everyone's. Obviously she's not evil, but from her perspective there are two ways to resolve this and she has to work towards one of them since the alternative is everyone dies. Both those options lead to a lot of suffering and death in one case and third-generation reyvateil near-extinction via no diquility in the other._

 _This puts her and Lyner on opposite sides, although of course we are dealing with Lyner, who is still of the opinion that 'sides' are arbitrary barriers to people actually getting what they want. Between needing to defend the people you care about and needing to stab abusers in the face,_ fighting _is often necessary, of course, but sides are just stupid. 'Wait, hold on a second: are we just fighting because we're on opposite sides, or do we have an actual reason we're trying to kill each other?'_

 _Leard being Leard isn't this much of a problem in the game, but in the game Lyner is making an effort to brush it aside and not see it as important even before there's bigger stuff going on, while here it's a diplomatic incident and I doubt Leard would grasp this because he has never had to consider diplomacy before. This is a situation where there is really no way for Platina to come out looking good, as much as I feel sorry for Shurelia._


	3. Route Choice

_Last chapter did time passing during Phase 1 with Talk Topics, and then skipped to end of Phase 1._

 _This next bit would be the beginning of Phase 2, post-route choice._

 _Game!Lyner's chance at freedom was the military, which is… it says something about his home situation since military discipline is a very important thing. He takes to grathmelding quickly and eagerly, same with diplomacy. Another part of his motivation for insisting on being a knight was that he wanted to be on the front lines risking his own life, instead of hanging back and sending other people as sacrifices, so I certainly do think he'd keep his combat skills up to date (and get some practice)._

* * *

"But I don't…"

Whispers carried farther than speaking quietly: they could make out what Lyner was saying, but his step-sister's voice was an unintelligible murmur.

"I can't do this kind of thing, Spica! Weren't you _counting_ on me screwing it up the last time you sent me to talk to people?"

A short response.

"Making friends is different! I don't _want_ to be friends with them! They don't want us here, fine: I don't want to _be_ here."

Lyner's next response was, "I'm not seeing the world in black and white! There are just things you _don't do_. I need to get down there to help with the evacuations, the airship fleet isn't built for this kind of strain, the mechanics need every hand on deck."

Silence that Lyner broke with "What?"

Leard and Shurelia looked at each other where they sat on the balcony, wondering if they should say 'we can hear you," as Spica said something to Lyner. No, no, this was good to know.

"That's different!" Lyner exclaimed. "And I _do_ understand why Leard and Shurelia did this, I just don't agree, but there's no way I'm going to get through to them! They weren't going to listen or change no matter what I said, so I had to do something on my own. It's not just about being angry with them, Spica. They used to be _my parents_. You've always had Mom: she's busy, but she _listens_ to what you say. We need a negotiator they'll _listen_ to, and if I'm the one talking they'll just stand there and not care about what I have to say because I'm the one talking, like _always_. He hasn't changed one bit. And that's what you want, isn't it? For negotiations to break down, for everyone to be furious at them? This used to be my home, Spica. They used to be my family. And that's why I'm not doing this. You are. You _are,"_ he added in response to Spica's murmur. "Your pride won't let you screw it up when it's _your_ job to get them to be reasonable."

There was a pause before Spica's next response.

"It's not about choosing between Tenba and Platina," Lyner said quietly instead of whispering, and this time Leard and Shurelia had to lean a little to make it out. "I chose Tenba, and that's why I don't want us to have this kind of blood on our hands, not even in the name of advancement. I know this city, and I know the apostles aren't going to stand down. Spica… this is why Mom's worried about you inheriting all of her shares, and you know it. There are more important things than profit and power, even if having those two things lets us _do_ more. Listen to yourself: do you want to prove the Church _right?"_

* * *

Ayatane wasn't disappointed when he felt Chronicle Key pull his mother down into sleep. Not really. Not then.

Even if Lyner had remained principled with _human_ lives at stake, the others would have gone through him to force Misha to do her duty as the Star Singer.

"…Now I am disappointed," he said when he appeared in the Crescent Chronicle and found Lyner there, grathmelding some food, along with his 'sister' and one of the Teru. "You're letting this happen, Lyner?"

He grimaced. "Only until the Plasma Bell's secure. _Only_ ," he said, looking at Misha.

She rolled her eyes, although she couldn't respond when she was busy singing.

"I'm here to make sure no one forces her to stay _even a moment_ after the defenses are set up." Lyner glared for a moment at the Star Singer: the reason Misha stayed had better not be Misha.

The Teru sighed. "If I wasn't certain they weren't blood siblings…" he muttered.

And vanished.

Ayatane's swords – the swords Lyner made – blocked the strike at his back. "I was modeled after a Teru. I know what falcon feathers mean." So if Flute thought his teleportation would be a _surprise_ …

"Do we really have to fight?" Lyner asked, getting up to put the food in front of Misha.

" _We_ don't," Ayatane said. "I have to save my mother, and I hope you want to save your sister."

"I can't…" Lyner looked away almost as soon as he'd turned to face Ayatane. "When she insisted on going back, then I can't take someone else's choice away from them. I just got a reminder of why I hate that."

"Ah, Leard." Ayatane mused, circling to scan the room and intercept Flute's strikes from ever-shifting directions. "He _is_ rather." Authoritarian. Everyone in Platina knew that: being betrayed by both his best friend and his son had only made him worse.

"This is… where Misha wants to be right now." Lyner shifted into his ready stance. "I won't let you do anything to her. Or the Plasma Bell. If Misha sings, and the Plasma Bell is still destroyed…" If she sang for nothing?

"Are you really willing to sit here and watch her life drip away? Then you're not the man I thought you were, _Lyner Barsett_ ," Ayatane said, wondering at the malice that dripped into that name. Why, he really was taking this almost personally.

"If my alternative is being out there and leaving her here alone in the dark? Then yes, I will."

Ayatane regained his usual smile. "Very well then."

Lyner's eyes widened when six of the ELMA virus appeared. Flute paused, then hurriedly teleported to guard Misha's other flank as Lyner blocked the first attack.

Oh, managing to move so fast? "You've gone back to the crystals you had when we first met," Ayatane noticed. Not the defensive and attack enhancements he'd used to close with the enemy and hold their attention while Jack aimed, Ayatane dashed in and Aurica sang.

"Well, I know I can't," a flurry of blows, and Lyner returned to his original position. "Keep up-with you-without them!"

With his sword in a one-handed guard position. Lyner reached into his pocket and pulled out a rabbit-shaped device. Then he froze, horrified, looking at Ayatane, long enough for one of the ELMAs to hit him from the side and knock him off his feet.

Ayatane recognized that particular rabbit. Normally Lyner took attacking enemies down carefully, to preserve their usable parts, but sometimes they were ambushed in rooms with historical significance in ancient churches or working equipment deep in the tower. That device's waves wouldn't have killed Ayatane – it might or might not have worked on the other viruses – but Lyner hadn't known that.

Perhaps Lyner could have gotten back to his feet if Flute had moved to try to cover him as well as the Star Singer, but it didn't seem to occur to him until Lyner took several more hits and Ayatane decided to run in and pull Lyner out of the line of fire. "Well, I can't have you using any revival items on him, now can I? Even with teleportation, you simply can't protect the Star Singer by your _self_ ," Ayatane said, and _moved._

Flute had anticipated that Ayatane would attack and moved to stand over Misha, but Flute's style and stances were designed to dodge blows, not take them. Shurelia hadn't found all of Mir's stockpiles from the war, and Ayatane had come prepared to fight the armament Lyner had used to take blows for the rest of them. Dealing with that took a considerable amount raw power, both to get through his armor and to do enough damage to stay ahead of that regeneration crystal Lyner used so he didn't waste items or have to be a bother to Aurica.

Taking blows for the rest of them, Ayatane thought as Flute hit the wall and Misha glared up at him, still defiantly singing. He smiled at her, dismissing the ELMAs. "Does your brother still carry Dreamchaser Water in one of those pockets of his?"

The Star Singer couldn't split her attention enough to communicate while singing, but a hand gesture was much simpler than a sentence. He wondered if she'd learned it from her stepmother or Spica, who seemed fond of corrupting the innocent.

After pouring the first over her head, he used another two Dreamchaser Waters to keep Lyner and Flute asleep for good measure. As he felt his mother wake up he smiled and told her, "And now we have three hostages." Tenba and Platina cared for the fates of Lyner and the Star Singer, and the Teru knew the importance of the Star Singer and would need their leader to organize them as they rebuilt their defenses.

"Rrha ki ra hymme PA-JA yor getrra, en gott wi gyas!"

Oh, yes, Ayatane realized, looking down at his hands to see them flicker. _He_ was a virus. Normally that hymn wouldn't affect him, but he had no defenses against his mother's power, and Aurica had access to Mir's account. If she specifically targeted him like this, she might even be able to kill him.

He shifted between dimensions before the hymn could fully solidify the barrier and lock him out of that space.

What to do… Perhaps try this again with a different set of hostages?

* * *

"Wait," Ayatane heard Ayano say as he appeared. "So what you're saying is that the Child of Light is _a robot?!"_

"Yes?" Shurelia answered a second before Ayatane appeared before the Child of Light and called up the program, golden circles of hymmnos appearing as it downloaded itself into her. "He's corrupting the Child of Light's programming! She'll go berserk!"

Ayano groaned, drawing her sword. "I knew it! _Every_ time. Every single time!"

"Uninstall that song from the Star Singer, and I'll uninstall _this_ program from the Child of Light."

Ayano looked at Shurelia. "It'll take some time for even us to get a message to Em Pheyna."

Was she asking if Shurelia could make it happen faster, or if they should delay?

Lyner appeared, with a Teru tribe girl. Well, there went that excuse, with a teleporter who could go this far this fast. Ah, yes, that was Lyra Ross Ritel, one of the Teru who was looking for Misha, covering herself as an obtainer of rare materials from the tower. According to Lyner, she often brought back materials ten times her size, and likely more than that her weight: a passenger was nothing. "Ayatane attac… Oh. Hi, Ayatane." Lyner blushed, then waved, giving his two stepmothers, current and Platinan, a sheepish look.

"You left your sister there alone?" Ayatane asked him.

"Claire, Aurica, Jack and Radolf are with her. And Flute," Lyner added after a moment. He didn't look happy with Flute's failure to defend Misha after Lyner was knocked out: Ayatane was sure Flute had repeatedly told the human that his services weren't needed, but Lyner wasn't the sort to rub that in his face.

It was only human to _want_ to, though, after Flute's failure to cooperate even to do his duty had ended in one of Lyner's own creations being used on his sister.

"I know you don't want to do this," Lyner told him.

"I'm afraid it's not about what I want. My mother needs me to do this. To free her, and grant her wish."

"For a peaceful world? You can't just make peace by killing people! A better world is something we have to _build_. Don't you know that, Ayatane? When we… When you're working so hard, to help someone important to you?"

Someone sighed next to Shurelia. "He asked my advice. I _told_ him to show some skin. This is all your fault, Mother."

When had Spica snuck up beside them? That was what Shurelia wanted to know.

"It's not that I don't want you three to date, it's just that I didn't want you to make the same mistake I did."

"So now I'm a mistake?" Spica's voice dripped with worrying sweetness.

"I had to take you into the tower with me because it was the only way to keep a roof over our heads! What if something had happened to you? All of you have careers and skills besides hitting things with a sword, and I hope you know I'll never disown you no matter what you do…"

"I can't go against my creator's wishes."

"Yes you can! _I_ did, and I know you think I did the right thing, for Misha's sake, not just Mir's!" Lyner shook his head. "For everyone's sake. Ayatane… you told me your mother named you for a character in a book she wrote. A _hero._ Don't you think that's what she wanted for you? You're not just a killer, Ayatane. You're a lot more than that. You can't save _anyone_ like this. There has to be a way for you to save her without anyone having to die!"

"If I betray her, she… I can't help her if I'm dead!"

"I betrayed Leard and Shurelia, and they still want me back. She's your mother, Ayatane. She could have made you a thing, but instead you're her _child_. Do you really think she would do that to you?"

Beside Ayatane, the Child of Light screamed. "Humans! Humans… kill!"

"One of these days," Ayano said. "One of these days I'll get to see an operating robot that doesn't go berserk. Looks like today is not that day."

The red-armored ancient girl screamed again and charged forward. Ayano and Spica moved forward to cover Shurelia, and after a moment's hesitation Lyner joined them, moving behind Ayano and to her right instead of taking point.

Ayano and Spica did most of the blocking, but when Lyner helped them with one vicious blast Ayatane saw him wince until Spica tossed him an item. He smiled at her in thanks before chugging it down, but it seemed strained.

That was right: dashing in like this meant his defenses were weak.

All three of them were able to damage the Child of Light, Spica throwing attack items instead of leaving Shurelia unguarded while the other two ran forward, but of course it was the Origin Reyvateil's attack that ended the battle.

For now.

"I hope we can repair her… And she's getting back up," Lyner said, raising his sword again.

"She's the strongest guardian of the tower," Shurelia told them, summoning another orb of power above her head. "We can't defeat her with force."

"So…" Spica began to drawl, before her eyes widened as the Child of Light began to glow with power.

Shurelia lobbed the ball of power – still pathetically weak – at the Plasma Bell's guardian before she began to sing a blue magic instead.

Lyner pulled out a coffin with an alarm clock set into the front of it and sat it down on the ground carefully. Spica threw something at the Child of Light that decreased how fast the power gathered, and followed it up with a Neo Hitless as Lyner handed Shurelia a Bunny Rice.

The Child of Light kept gathering power, and the four of them looked at each other worriedly. A too-powerful blast might take out the Plasma Bell along with the targets, and the evacuations couldn't be anywhere near complete.

Looking back at them, Ayatane met Lyner's eyes. His… the human called for him to, "Ayatane, get back! You'll be caught in the blast!"

Lyner was the one to run forward before any of the others could react, but Ayatane could see the logic in it. He wouldn't survive that blast regardless, so there was no reason not to charge into the teeth of it and see if he could at least keep her from gathering any more power.

A _human_ charging forward, when the Child of Light was now programmed to hate them. "Humans…" The Child of Light's voice was full of seething anger. Her power flared outward and as it engulfed Ayatane's vision, engulfed _Lyner_ , he _moved._

There was no decision or volition to it. Perhaps he could have claimed it was force of habit, but… If a rock was held suspended in midair and then released, it would fall. Ayatane had stood there, and then Lyner was about to die.

When they could see again, they saw the Child of Light and Ayatane, both fallen to their knees.

"Ayatane!" Lyner ran to him as Shurelia ran to the Child of Light.

"What did you do? Her system is clear."

"I don't know what I did," Ayatane managed to say haltingly, pausing to gasp for breath, as Lyner knelt next to him and started to check Ayatane over. "I just wanted to help you…"

"Don't talk right now. These symptoms… Worth a shot." Lyner bit his lip, then reached into a coat pocket for something that gleamed blue and pressed it against the mark on Ayatane's forehead.

"Lyner… My mother… Mir's heart is filled with anger, but she crafted songs for humans before. Please, find that song. Those feelings… If they're restored to her, I know that she'll…" The virus' eyes closed. "Thank you, that does feel better."

That if she could care for humans, she would care for Lyner. The way Ayatane did.

The only part Lyner seemed to care about right now was that Ayatane was feeling better. "You were made by a reyvateil, so I thought the principles behind your power might be the same…"

Ayatane struggled to his feet.

Lyner grabbed for his arms to steady him. "What are you doing, you're not okay!"

"I just want to go somewhere alone… and think…"

"You want to go away so I won't have to watch you die." Lyner had no tolerance for self-sacrificing bullshit. From other people, anyway. "If you're on your own like this, what if a tower guardian finds you? You really might die."

"I don't have long to live. I've betrayed my mother," Ayatane said, and found Lyner's arms wrapped around him.

"She loves you," Lyner said. "I know it. I mean, how could she not?"

"I don't know how many more days… how many more seconds I have to live, but I want to…"

"Stay with us." Lyner's blue eyes held Ayatane's red. The virus looked entranced. "Help us save her. I'll protect you until you're strong again. I won't let anyone eliminate you." Son of the Mother Virus or no. "Your mother, my sister: I know that we can save them both."

"Together?" Ayatane asked, voice quiet and amazed.

Lyner's smile was as bright as his hair. "Together."

"I have to help her," Ayatane confessed, searching Lyner's eyes. For what? Forgiveness for his desire to help someone who wanted to exterminate Lyner's kind.

"I understand," Lyner told him. "We're the same, aren't we?" Even at the cost of releasing Mir, he couldn't leave the Star Singer alone in the darkness.

It took a moment, but Ayatane smiled again. "Yes."

"Good. Now, sit down. Drink this." Lyner handed him a bottle.

"Yes, dear," Ayatane said, and obeyed.

Lyner reached into his coat for where he kept the Grathnode Crystals. "Just let me swap some of these out, and I can carry you to an airship… Luke's working on something that can get past the blastline, so we can look for that song."

"It's in the Silver Horn. That was where they kept her."

"Do you know where that is?" Lyner asked Lyra.

"Um… there's that big golden horn, but I don't know about a silver one."

"That's it," Ayatane said. "Calling it the Silver Horn is just one of many questionable decisions made by the people who created it."

"A lot of it's covered in this energy field that'll hurt you if you're there for more than a second."

"The Voice of God. It can be turned off." Ayatane looked at Lyner. "The Star Singer-your sister is singing because my mother is a danger to this world. The world Misha only saw because of you. I can't let my weakness be the reason either of them suffer any longer."

"Lyra, can you take us there?" Lyner asked her. "Please?"

"I… I don't know," she said, looking at Ayatane. She still stepped closer.

Lyner's pleading expression and his 'let's do the right thing together' smile were both deadly, but he met Lyra's eyes with a serious look. He might trust Ayatane, but Lyra had a duty to her people – to the _world_. He was asking her to help the Mother Virus' son: this was serious, and she deserved to be treated seriously. "I will pay you in shares."

"Shares in, in Tenba? But I'm a Teru!"

"Shares. Voting shares. I'm the President's son, and Professor Pochoma's pick for his successor, once I'm old enough. We don't exactly have to worry about the Church anymore."

"I'll have a say, even a piece of one, in what you humans do with your army?" Lyra didn't wait for Lyner's response before she grabbed his sleeve and Ayatane's armor.

The three of them vanished.

"Now, _that's_ my boy," Ayano said, pleased, folding her arms under her ample… chest.

Shurelia stared, and then remembered to look higher up. "The Silver Horn is heavily defended, and there are only three of them!" More like one of them, when the virus was wounded and Lyra was a child.

"Now that they're out of the way?" Spica walked over to the Child of Light and smiled, holding up a closed hand. "Among the many services offered by Tenba Corporation is…" Something dropped down a ways from her hand, reflecting the light. "Delivery. From Mei Mei, for her dear sister Kanade."

"Mei Mei? When did you get to the Observatory?" Shurelia asked, startled.

"It's what we do."

Mei Mei controlled the locks on the tower gates. How many formerly sealed areas would be open to Tenba now, in exchange for this favor?

* * *

 _Flute is one of those people who mistakes obedience for a virtue (although in game he eventually realizes that although yes, rules exist for a reason, what's important is the reason, not the rule), while Lyner is one of The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. Except he managed to escape with the child, when the tower's happiness depended on that child's lonely, miserable existence._

 _In_ Atelier Iris 1 _, Klein has a skill that causes an item's effect to be delayed. Lyner used a Coffin of Grief and Joy (full party revive) set to go off after a certain amount of time._


	4. Rig Veda

When Lyra brought them to the entrance of the Crescent Chronicle Lyner stumbled, barely catching himself before he fell over.

"Are you alright?" Ayatane asked him, leaning forward. He would have reached out to steady Lyner, but he held the Harmonious song crystal in his hands.

"It's been… not sure how long it's been since I slept. I knew that you wouldn't let Misha keep singing any more than I could, but you move so fast and I couldn't count on Flute to wake me up in time when you got there." To silence Misha. "If I was asleep I wouldn't have gotten a chance to talk to you." He closed his eyes and said, voice quiet, "And Misha was singing. How could I just go to sleep hearing her bleed her life away right next to me… I heard that song so many times it's stuck in my head, Ayatane. I just keep hearing it, over and over. I want to get it out, but do I really deserve to get it out of my head as long as it's still forced into hers? It has to stop. This has to _stop_." He took another step, and Lyra acted before Ayatane could.

"You're about to fall over," she said, biting her lip.

Lyner shook his head, turning around to smile and reassure them as he reached into one of his pockets for something. "Stimulant wore off." Not the teleportation's fault. Looking past her at Ayatane, he frowned. "You don't look so good."

Ayatane chuckled. "It's not really a surprise. It doesn't matter."

"It will matter to Mir," Lyner said, withdrawing his hand from his pocket still empty and pressing it to his forehead. "What will she think if she wakes up and sees that you're hurt?"

"That I managed to free her?" It wasn't as though he wouldn't recover.

"She'll think that _we hurt you_ ," Lyner said, frowning at Ayatane. "Will she really listen to the people who hurt her son? We need to get through to your mother, there's no other way to make this _stop_ , but Misha's singing."

"What are you suggesting… No, Lyner. I can't let mother remain imprisoned because I'm weak. Buying me time to heal with a reyvateil's life?"

"Delaying will give them a chance to stop us, too," Lyner knew. "I _have_ to let her sing if it will help the odds, though. I _have_ to. She won't forgive me if I stop her without a plan. She's only singing so we have a chance, I can't ruin it because I'm impulsive and reckless."

"I _could_ take you to one of my secret bases and bring us back here in the morning," Lyra offered, mouth tightening as she looked up at Lyner. The Teru gave Ayatane a look, clearly asking for him to back her up on this, or at least not push for charging in right now.

Lyner smiled at her. "You are a _lifesaver_ , Lyra." Muffling a yawn with a sleeve, he said, "You can have anything you want, up to and including my firstborn."

Lyra frowned and poked him in the side. "Don't try and be tricky. I know Harm and Harm knows Krusche, you know."

Harm? Oh, Harmonica. But, "Krusche?" Ayatane asked. It was ridiculous to worry about this now, but still something tightened in his chest. "Is she not interested in children?" She and Lyner were childhood friends, and they'd seemed very affectionate, but he hadn't thought…

Lyner blushed. "We had the same first crush. Luke doesn't like either of us that way."

Someone didn't return Lyner's feelings? It seemed impossible, but Ayatane grabbed onto it like a dying man would a Healy C as Lyner continued, "I'm not going to have children that are _born._ That's why Mom jokes about expecting me to build her robot grandchildren. Misha can become a mom on her own, but Spica says she's going to do what Mom did and find some cute little Master Thieves who aren't nailed down. We're a little worried about Spica…"

Master Thieves? Well, they had stolen something very valuable away from under the watchful eyes of the Apostles and Lady Shurelia herself.

While Lyner rambled, Lyra gestured with one of her arms for Ayatane to come within reach.

Putting away the crystal, Ayatane did her one better and grabbed hold of Lyner as well as Lyra's draping purple sleeve. He could feel that there were items inside it, but they were at their destination and he had to let go to hold on to Lyner too quickly for him to make any kind of identification.

Lyra sighed. "They do that sometimes when they're exploring the tower. Especially if things are bad enough that they can't get back on their own long enough for Tenba to hire me."

"Exhaust themselves like this?" Ayatane asked, picking up Lyner and spotting a large mattress that was clearly more for jumping on than sleeping. At least that meant there was another bed for Lyra.

"Taking things." She shook her head, tufted silver hair shaking in disapproval, before she realized something. "I don't think it's all wrong! Not like Flute. It's _not_ just progress for the sake of progress and power, humans don't live as long as we do, and they can't just teleport away, and there are viruses and monsters down on the Wing of Horus. But, because they need new medication so much… making new recipes is really dangerous. I hope that Krusche's okay. The humans are trying to evacuate the Wing of Horus, the airship pilots must be _really_ tired by now. What if she keeps flying until she falls over while she's flying?"

"Lyner is the kind of person who would do something like that," Ayatane knew, putting him down on the bed. "Beyond all reason…"

"He's nice," Lyra said, and plopped herself down on her bed, which was a mess of pink and purple blankets. "I saw you save him. You're a virus, and viruses kill humans, but you saved him. So maybe it really is true. Maybe the Teru wouldn't have to keep someone just like me locked up all alone in the dark, knowing that all of us are out there but we're not going to help her. Harm was Misha's friend when she was in Em Pheyna before she went to Platina, but he wouldn't have, and I wouldn't have known she was there until I was a _grown-up_ and what if I'd thought it was _okay_ and just let it happen even though I could get past Tastiella and rescue her? I don't… I don't want Em Pheyna to become someplace that does that to people without even _trying_ to find another way. Up in Platina they call Lyner a traitor, but… I'm a kid, so they say all the time that 'if you love someone you correct their behavior when they do bad things so they'll be a better person.' That should go for adults too! If my parents were doing something awful…" She bit her lip, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Like my mother," Ayatane agreed. "She did try to find another way once. That's why the crystal exists. But… yes. She may see it as another betrayal, but it's because she's my mother that I want to protect her from having any more blood on her hands. I hear you humans, Teru, even reyvateils call her the Mother Virus, the root of all evil, and I want to say that you're wrong, but why would you have any reason to think otherwise, when viruses," like him, "and other relics of the war still end lives?"

"I've seen a lot of the tower, and I love it," Lyra said, trying to smile. "That's why I started helping humans, even _armed_ humans going inside the tower, even though I'd get in trouble if Flute found out. I've never been trapped anywhere," not when she could teleport, "but for other people it's horrible and they can die, and Harm wanted to do that to somebody?" She sniffled, and Ayatane's wince wasn't only because she blew her nose on one of her sleeves.

"That's probably why Lyner wanted you to have those shares," Ayatane said, both to distract her and because it was true. "You're a good person, Lyra. If there were more people like you back then, well, we wouldn't be having this conversation." He managed a smile. "Lyner truly believes in making the tower not just the last remnants of two corrupted races clinging to survival by sacrificing others, but something that will grow, and become better than the past. If he's right, if we really can heal the scars left by the past…" on Mir's heart? "I want him to be right. I want the world where I was created to be somewhere he can be right, and my mother can be happy."

"So you _have to make it happen_ ," the Teru girl said, standing up with her hands on her hips.

"Or die trying," Ayatane agreed without hesitation.

"Get some sleep too, okay? Or else your mom's going to be mad," Lyra warned him.

Mir had never given him a bedtime, but he was used to lights out in the knight barracks.

* * *

Lyner knelt next to Misha and tapped her shoulder. The song cut out, and she opened her eyes. "You have two minutes."

"Mir made a song to get through to her creators so they'd stop hurting her in order to make her sing. What Father and Lady Shurelia did to you wasn't anywhere near as bad, but your feelings got through to me." Made him go against his parents, leave the only world he knew, because she needed help. "I know that you can understand her feelings and sing that song. She used to just be a beta-type like you, who needed someone to listen, care, _help_."

"Communicating feelings, knowing that your feelings were heard is important," any reyvateil knew _that_ , "but she's our… _your_ enemy now, Lyner." It was the human she'd want to kill. Did he really think this had enough of a chance to be worth that risk?

"That doesn't have to mean anything. Not when Ayatane helped me when I needed him. If Mir's fighting to help reyvateils, then _we're on the same side_ , aren't we?"

"Well, I know _I_ don't want pure-blooded beta types getting treated like things," Misha agreed. "Where's this crystal?"

Ayatane held it toward her. She frowned at him, but whatever grudge she bore him for beating up her brother in front of her while she couldn't do a thing to stop him would have to wait. "Hurry up and install it."

When it was over, Misha knelt there with her eyes closed as precious seconds ticked by.

Finally, her eyes opened, and she nodded up at them. "I'm singing it. Even if this doesn't work, even if I have to go back to singing Chronicle Key, this song, the feelings in this song… she needs to hear it at least once. If I'm going to imprison her," the way Misha was imprisoned, "then I have to do this for her, at least this once!"

* * *

 _For the children_ , Mir was singing.

For _him_.

No, not just for him.

For the Reyvateil who was able to sing just for the sake of easing Mir's pain and loneliness even after so many generations fell alone in the dark because of the Mother Virus.

For the boy who was able to help that reyvateil despite how it went against his parents' wills and the laws of this world, the laws of how this world _worked_ because he did not have it in him to do anything else.

Ayatane expected to be ordered into a world of black and white, of evil humans and reyvateil victims, but there were good humans and reyvatiels, even third-generation reyvateils like Aurica, who were able to choose their own paths.

He'd hoped to free her from the curse that bound her, and now she sang of her hopes that _he_ would live free, without the curse of hatred?

This world, this shining world where he was brought into existence… It blinded him with its brilliance.

For a moment this happiness was too much to bear, but someone squeezed his hand.

Yes. He was not alone.

He, _they_ truly could make this world a place where Mother and Lyner both could be happy. Where all these impossible joys could be held in his hands.

* * *

Lyner grabbed the crystal before anyone else could and made for the door.

Ayatane was the first to catch up with him. "Lyner, where are you going?" He wasn't intending to make a copy of it the way he had the Purger crystal was he?

"It's going right off the edge of the tower!"

"It's an example of lost technology!" Krusche argued, grabbing a hold of Lyner's coat.

"Not the kind of technology Tenba should be replicating!"

"…It's a historical artifact?" Aurica said, but she looked doubtful herself. Radolf still took hold of Lyner's arm, ready to let him go if the Holy Maiden gave the order.

"So we make a crystal that _looks_ like it for a memorial to ' _this is never happening again.'"_

Ayatane hesitated, not sure if he should assist . "…It is a beautiful song."

Lyner stopped trying to kick Krusche's hand and turned to his boyfriend. Really, Ayatane?

"Lyner!" Misha yelled at him. "It's my crystal: hand it over!"

His shoulders drooped. "Sorry, Misha," he said, holding the Chronicle Key crystal out for her to take it from him.

"It's _my_ crystal, so _I_ get to throw it off the edge of the tower."

* * *

"So, the leader of the largest human army," stepmother of her son's boyfriend - good thinking of Ayatane to seduce him. Mir couldn't really regret that it had backfired, when it turned out so well. "Has invited me to 'Mother-Son Tower Diving?'"

Ayatane explained.

"Invading Shurelia's tower and killing her tower guardians for amusement and profit?"

The Mother Virus smiled. She _liked_ the way this human thought.

* * *

 _I'd like to do Mir/Ayano bonding and how this affects (and how it doesn't affect…) how Mir dresses in AT2 this 'verse, but the PS2 I would borrow to replay AT1 is being used to play the copy of P3FES they borrowed from me._

 _So, a conclusion to the plot of the giftfic, and there hopefully will be omake content as soon as I can start observing things like the more exotic item effects in action, depending on memory and inspiration._

 _The full quote from The Tempest is "O brave new world, that has such people in it!"_


End file.
